Book Review: Girls of Paper and Fire

Girls of Paper and Fire

Written by Natasha Ngan

383 pages

Published in the UK 2018

So this book really appealed to me. I even loved the cover, and the hint of what the book could be about.

Acording to goodreads – this is the blurb on what the book is about.

Each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. It’s the highest honor they could hope for…and the most demeaning. This year, there’s a ninth. And instead of paper, she’s made of fire.

In this richly developed fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most persecuted class of people in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards for an unknown fate still haunts her. Now, the guards are back and this time it’s Lei they’re after — the girl with the golden eyes whose rumored beauty has piqued the king’s interest.

Initially I could not help but draw links between this and The Red Queen. It was not a new concept it felt. In a caste society where something about someone in the lowest caste manages to attract the attention of the King or royal family.

This book was actually not so bad! I really was not sold on the concept, as I said before I thought it had been done before, but this managed to keep the plot tight and fast paced and interesting. It also I felt took on and looked at aspects and feelings that are often overlooked.

What I would have liked though was a little more spine on the main character Lei. It felt a little like she sort of wanted to have a spine, but not quite – which I do guess is a genuine representation, in terms of we want to stand firm against something, but it is often harder to do this.

”We might be Paper Girls, easily torn and written upon. The very title we’re given suggests that we are blank, waiting to be filled. But what the Demon King and his court do not understand is that paper is flammable. And there is a fire catching among us.”

I love this quote – the definition of the title that they are given, and teh concept of being flamable – but I am not quite sure it was accurately portrayed – the fire among them did not really catch light and develop, which was quite sad really.

I would like to do this book with a class from the point of view of being able to discuss a revolution and how hard it can be to challenge the status quo and also to stand up for what you believe in against great pressure. From that point of view it was very valid and realistic.

The ending diefinitely showed the progression for a sequel but it is not one that I think I will actively seek out.

While I did enjoy the book, there was a lot more that I wanted from it as well, and there was not enough to have drawn me in to stay. I think if you have not read a lot in this genre then it is a book you will enjoy.

Mrs K

Genre: Speculative Fiction, Fantasy, Magic, Romance, LGBT, teenage fiction, fiction, adolescent fiction.

Book Review: Psy Changeling part 2

Ok, so I really hate these covers – I much prefer the covers in the last post I did on this series. I know that you should not judge a book by a cover – but for sure these covers are not books I would have picked up!

Anyway – in the last post I had read the first four books in the series. Since then I have read another eight books! So have finished the first 12 books in the series. It seems crazy when I say it like that. But genuinely I have really really loved this series.  I have loved that picking up each new book is similar to meeting an old friend. You know what is going on, you know the characters, but you get to meet someone else, or find out more information.

I was intrigued as there felt like there was a fairly major shift from the focus being on Dark River to the focus being on Snow Dancer. However this did not impact the story at all.

In my last post I talked about how they followed a very similar pattern and structure, and they still do, however I do not think that that takes away from the series at all, or the enjoyment of the books.

I have definitely called this series my light trashy reading – and feel a little like I am lacking in having read any kind of variety. I decided that I would stop and read something else for awhile. I got 25% of the way through a new book and then gave in and loaded the next book onto my phone so that I could keep reading. My plan now is to try and balance it a little bit more and read two books at a time. Not something that I regularly do – but hopefully it will work.

I really enjoy the world that Nalini Singh has created. It is such a detailed well thought out world. I love the three types of people and their increasing reliance on each other. I also really like that all three races are really intelligent and smart – although there is a race that is inferior – there is not the same issue with an inferior or slave race as there is in many many speculative fiction books. I think that is really important.

I look forward to reading the rest of the books – but I also look forward to resuming a greater variety of reading!

Mrs K